Relational Continuity Constructional Units and the Maintenance of Relationships

Sigman (1991) proposed that relationships are continuous despite discontinuous periods of physical and interactional co-presence and that couples manage the discontinuous aspects of social relationships by using Relational Continuity Constructional Units (RCCUs). RCCUs are actions or behaviors that couples do before, during, or after an absence to bridge the gap in the relationship caused by the absence. Our study examined the relationship between time spent apart, RCCUs, and relational satisfaction. A total of 112 partners from 56 married or cohabiting couples completed measures of time spent apart, their use of prospective, introspective and retrospective RCCUs, and relational satisfaction. The results were as follows. Co-presence was positively related to relational satisfaction. Female prospective, introspective and retrospective RCCUs were positively related to female relational satisfaction, and female prospective and retrospective RCCUs were positively related to male relational satisfaction. Female and male prospective RCCUs were positively related to female relational satisfaction and female prospective RCCUs were positively related to male relational satisfaction when the effects of co-presence were held constant. A post hoc analysis of the `relationship specialist' hypothesis did not indicate that women perform more RCCUs than men. However, RCCUs performed by women appear to have more impact on both male and female relational satisfaction than those performed by men.